Bihar officer defers joining Delhi anti-graft body on medical grounds

Deputy superintendent of police Sanjay Bharti has expressed his inability to join the ACB due to medical reasons.

The Delhi government’s decision to rope in officials from Bihar police for its anti-corruption branch has hit another hurdle with the senior most official, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sanjay Bharti, expressing his inability to take up the new assignment immediately on medical grounds.

“He has not been relieved as yet, as he has given representation on medical grounds,” said superintendent of police Arwal SP MS Dhillon, where Bharti, a 2000-batch Bihar police service official, was posted as DSP.

Asked about the specifics of the ‘medical ground’, Dhillon said that it cannot be disclosed. “He has sent a representation and I have forwarded it to the officials concerned,” he said.

Sources said that though Bharti had initially shown willingness, he is now reluctant to join the ACB in Delhi.

Bihar DGP PK Thakur said that the six officers were shortlisted only after seeking their willingness. “When the Delhi government accepted the biodata, the officials were relieved for joining on April 6 itself after their consent. Some of them have already joined, while the rest were expected to join by the first week of June,” Thakur added.

Asked if the approval of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) had been sought for sending officials, Thakur said it was a routine matter, as officials keep going on deputation. “In this case, the Delhi government had sent a request for its anti-corruption bureau. The process was for the last 2-3 months. The ACB does not come under MHA,” he added.

Interestingly, Bharti has no experience of working with any of the three anti-graft units of the Bihar government. Among the other five Bihar officers cleared for Delhi ACB job, two inspectors Jakir Hussain and Santosh Kumar too have no such experience. Of the remaining three, only two, inspector Hare Krishna Mandal and sub-inspector Sanjay Kumar, have had previous experience with anti-graft units. The sixth officer cleared for the ACB job, Bipin Kumar Singh, was among 20-odd sub inspectors posted in the office of the zonal inspector general of police (IGP), Patna. He, too, has no background of any anti corruption assignment.